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Post by River Tam on May 1, 2011 21:00:30 GMT -5
**follow the voices**
You’d think, after a while, the pain would go away, but, no. It’s still there, sharp as a knife between your ribs. It’s brilliant, searing, white-hot, like the north star, blazing right between your eyes. Why do we remember the bad things in life, and none of the good? It’s like our minds are programmed that way. Even River’s, screwed up as it is, works mostly like a normal brain. The doctors couldn’t take away her human nature any more than they could make her the perfect weapon-- the Invincible Human. It’s just not possible.
So, two years, three months, sixteen days, eleven hours, twenty seven minutes after River Tam escaped from the Sussex Institute for Gifted Children, the experience is still so fresh in her mind, as vivid as if she were back under the knife, the metal shining in the harsh lights of the laboratory. She can remember the pain of every slice of the knife. She hadn’t been anesthetized. She hadn’t passed out. They hadn’t let her. Every time her feeble grip on reality had slipped, the doctors had brought her back, back to her world of pain.
River watches the rain pour down the window, the tracks of perfectly clean glass left behind lasting for only a minute before being covered up again and again by the water, falling like tears of an angel from the sky. Her gaze is completely void of emotion, her face clear of any blemish. She is invulnerable.
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Post by Nikolas James Shadows on May 18, 2011 17:50:16 GMT -5
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nikolas James Shadows Branded like an animal
I can still feel them burning my mind
I do believe that you made your message clear
I think I am losing my mind
I think I am losing my mind Nik shakes his head, spraying water everywhere, as he came into the parlor. He hadn't expected for it to start raining while he was outside. When it did, he had came inside as fast as he could, but he was still soaked as he hadn't been anywhere close to the school. Nik hated the rain. It brought up memories of his past that he didn't want to think about. He hated remembering how he had run through the back alleyways, his hands burning, water streaming down his face as sobs racked his body. Water was running down Nik's face again, running into his eyes, when he saw the girl in the parlor. He hadn't expected to see someone else, and he was beginning to debate whether or not to leave or stay, when the book hidden under his jacket slipped and landed on the floor with a thud. |
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Post by River Tam on May 18, 2011 19:38:10 GMT -5
RIVER TAM
I’ve seen all of creation, but to it I’m incidental
But there’s more to this automaton than they will ever know
I’m more than just alloys and circuits, I have soul
And I’ve got dreams just like everybody else
I could conquer the world if I could conquer myself
River stands suddenly at the sound of the fallen book, her knees locking into place, sending her chair skittering off on two legs before falling--crash!-- to the floor. The slender girl twirls around, turning one hundred and eighty degrees in milliseconds. She stares at the boy that had materialized in the parlor, dripping water onto the floor, and fights the disgust building up as the water falls down.
She glances down at the book for just a moment, but it is facing away from her, and she cannot see the title. Inside, she’s shaking her head. Taking a book out into the rain. Letting the water soak into the cover, smearing the words, bloating the pages. Pitiful.
The brunette looks at the older boy, almost as if to say, ‘Well? What do you want? Do you know that I was thinking? Do you know that you interrupted me by so rudely storming in here and dripping all over the floor and dropping your book?’ But, at the same time, she’s almost grateful for the interruption-- it shocked her out of her memories, which, for River, are more like nightmares.
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Post by Nikolas James Shadows on Jun 2, 2011 18:10:56 GMT -5
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nikolas James Shadows Branded like an animal
I can still feel them burning my mind
I do believe that you made your message clear
I think I am losing my mind
I think I am losing my mind "I wasn't exactly planning on it raining today... I wasn't exactly close to the school. Plus, the only reason I came into the school in the first place was because of this book," Nik said, pulling his book back out. She was a quiet girl, and Nik could tell that she hated the way it sounded, by the way she looked as she spoke, the slight changes in her expression. Nik looked down, the water dripping down his nose, splashing on the floor. He hated the rain, hated the memories. There was a small puddle around where he stood, continually growing the longer he stood there. The back of his leather jacket was dripping with water, his black hair plastered to his head. He looked up through his bangs, looking at the girl with open curiosity with his light green eyes. |
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Post by River Tam on Jun 2, 2011 18:16:59 GMT -5
RIVER TAM
I’ve seen all of creation, but to it I’m incidental
But there’s more to this automaton than they will ever know
I’m more than just alloys and circuits, I have soul
And I’ve got dreams just like everybody else
I could conquer the world if I could conquer myself
River looks at the new boy-- Nikolas Shadows, from the look of his memories-- oddly. She walks around her chair, placing it back on all four legs, before speaking.
“If you weren’t expecting the rain, why did you take so long to get back to school? It’s been raining for hours.” Her voice is quiet, and she hates the sound of it. Weak. Scared. Dreadfully timid. Why can’t she ever sound confident? Well, except in the face of danger. Then, she just sounds arrogant. Isn’t there a happy medium somewhere?
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Post by River Tam on Jun 2, 2011 18:58:50 GMT -5
RIVER TAM
I’ve seen all of creation, but to it I’m incidental
But there’s more to this automaton than they will ever know
I’m more than just alloys and circuits, I have soul
And I’ve got dreams just like everybody else
I could conquer the world if I could conquer myself
Oh. Well. He didn’t ruin the book on purpose. That’s good. But, then again, maybe it’s not ruined. Maybe she’s just overreacting, as usual.
River drops back into her chair, curling her legs Indian-style beneath her. From up here, there’s no way the water can get to her. Hopefully.
She returns the open look in his eyes with her guarded one. She doesn’t try to push people away-- it just comes naturally.
“What’s in the book, if you don’t mind my asking.”
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Post by Nikolas James Shadows on Jun 2, 2011 19:28:15 GMT -5
**okayy so that I don't forget later, putting it here that I accidentaly modified my old post with the new one up thatta way^^ cuz I'm just smart like that** ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nikolas James Shadows Branded like an animal
I can still feel them burning my mind
I do believe that you made your message clear
I think I am losing my mind
I think I am losing my mind Nik flinched involuntarily. He was hoping that wouldn't come up. He sighed and shook his head. It had come up, so he might as well answer the girl. Wasn't like he had anything to hide anymore, not now that he was trying to change. "It's a book of my memories, like a journal, just a journal for thoughts about one specific thing, not just my life. It's a journal for me to record everything I need to about the day I lost everything, so that no matter what happens to me in the future, no matter what else I go through, I will never forget what I had lost then." |
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Post by River Tam on Jun 2, 2011 20:00:04 GMT -5
RIVER TAM
I’ve seen all of creation, but to it I’m incidental
But there’s more to this automaton than they will ever know
I’m more than just alloys and circuits, I have soul
And I’ve got dreams just like everybody else
I could conquer the world if I could conquer myself
River nods, understanding. It seems like a touchy subject, and she respects him for even going near it. Were she in his position, she would clam up completely.
She knows what day he’s talking about-- or has a pretty good idea, at least. Halloween night, and a fire. It’s hard to tell what really happened from the boy’s memories; they’re shaky, grainy, like a bad video recording. He wasn’t much younger than she is now.
“I keep journals too. They’re hard for most people to read though.” She’s referring to her collection of multi-colored spirals hidden away in a cave, filled with nighttime ramblings, all different languages.
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Post by Nikolas James Shadows on Jun 2, 2011 22:27:13 GMT -5
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nikolas James Shadows Branded like an animal
I can still feel them burning my mind
I do believe that you made your message clear
I think I am losing my mind
I think I am losing my mind "Mines pretty easy to understand...If you can get near it. I don't let anyone see it, ever. I don't talk about my past much... Also why I don't like storms. But just as you can't always avoid storms, my past catches up with me sometimes, like it just decided to... drop in, I guess," Nik said quietly. His accent masked the pain in the words, and he looked back down at his feet, the water puddling around them, and blinked back the tears that were starting to sting. Nik wondered what the girl's powers where. He didn't know most of the people at this school, as he'd never really tried to get to know anyone. He had actually done just the opposite, tried to keep everyone away from him. Fat lot of that good him when he actually started trying to fit in, halfway through his third year here. |
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Post by River Tam on Jun 3, 2011 6:50:41 GMT -5
RIVER TAM
I’ve seen all of creation, but to it I’m incidental
But there’s more to this automaton than they will ever know
I’m more than just alloys and circuits, I have soul
And I’ve got dreams just like everybody else
I could conquer the world if I could conquer myself
At the mention of his past, she can see the similarities between them. Both she and the other brit were born into a rich family, everything they wanted at the push of a button. They both lost everything they had when they were thirteen, and spent some time living on the London streets because of it. In River’s case, though, it was a year in Britain, while Nik stayed around London. They both hated storms-- River for the water, Nik for the fact that a storm put him on the street. Neither of them ever fit in.
She wonders if he realizes that the two of them hadn’t grown up far apart. Different neighborhoods, albeit, but London nonetheless.
“So why are you at Alexandria?” she asks, her soft accent covering even softer words. She already knows, but he doesn’t know that she knows, so it’s one way to keep the conversation going.
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Post by Nikolas James Shadows on Jun 3, 2011 8:22:41 GMT -5
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nikolas James Shadows Branded like an animal
I can still feel them burning my mind
I do believe that you made your message clear
I think I am losing my mind
I think I am losing my mind "Same reason all of us are here, I would guess. I have powers that I don't know how to control, someone has to teach me. Though mine seem to do nothing but get people hurt and make them hate me," Nik said quietly, not looking up. The other girl seemed nice enough, quiet, but she knew more than she let on. There were things she knew that most humans wanted nothing to do with. Nik shifted on his feet. He wasn't very good at making conversation, he usually tried to avoid it. He didn't really know what to do, and he hated feeling awkward like this. |
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Post by River Tam on Jun 4, 2011 9:49:09 GMT -5
RIVER TAM
I’ve seen all of creation, but to it I’m incidental
But there’s more to this automaton than they will ever know
I’m more than just alloys and circuits, I have soul
And I’ve got dreams just like everybody else
I could conquer the world if I could conquer myself
He doesn’t answer the question she was really asking-- what’s your power-- but she doesn’t push. Maybe he has a reason for keeping it a secret. Well, a secret from someone who’s not River.
She’s not the best conversationalist either. This might end up being quite awkward for a while, but there’s nothing that River can do to help that.
The girl leans back in her chair, trying to clear the last remnants of her memories from her mind.
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Post by Nikolas James Shadows on Jun 8, 2011 14:20:49 GMT -5
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nikolas James Shadows Branded like an animal
I can still feel them burning my mind
I do believe that you made your message clear
I think I am losing my mind
I think I am losing my mind Nik shuffled his feet, creating a squeak on the wet floor. He flinched at the noise. He hated talking, and no he remembered the reason he had stayed away from people in the first place. He was socially awkward, and that wasn't likely to change in the next five minutes. Nik searched through his mind for a conversation topic, but came up blank. He didn't know whether he should find somewhere to sit or just stay where he was, so he just stood there. |
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Post by River Tam on Jun 10, 2011 18:03:43 GMT -5
RIVER TAM
I’ve seen all of creation, but to it I’m incidental
But there’s more to this automaton than they will ever know
I’m more than just alloys and circuits, I have soul
And I’ve got dreams just like everybody else
I could conquer the world if I could conquer myself
Her eyes flicker over to the window as, for a second, she has the terrifying (and completely irrational) thought that the thin pane of glass keeping the rain from bursting in and soaking everything had… Disappeared. Which it had, for a second. A time shorter than the blink of an eye. None of the water even made it past the windowsill. She doesn’t turn back to the boy, but keeps her gaze trained on the glass.
“You’ve had a difficult past.” she says softly, not realizing her error. How could she had known what he had gone through?
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Post by Nikolas James Shadows on Jun 11, 2011 18:52:50 GMT -5
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nikolas James Shadows Branded like an animal
I can still feel them burning my mind
I do believe that you made your message clear
I think I am losing my mind
I think I am losing my mind Nik started, his head snapping up. How did she know about his past? How did she know it was bad? Who was this girl? Nik looked at her, trying to get a sign to how she had known. "How do you know about my past?" he asked cautiously, taking a step towards her. He didn't know anything about this girl, anything about her powers, anything about how she knew about him, so how did she know his past when he didn't know a thing about him? |
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